On 29 January, the Committee of the Regions hosted Municipal Waste Europe for a partnership event on textile waste, taking stock of the first year of mandatory separate collection of textile waste in the EU.
Speakers discussed challenges on the supply and demand sides, along with the role of policy. Read all about it!
This report aims to provide a diagnostic to underpin the Clean Industrial Deal and the Single Market Strategy. It responds to calls from businesses to prioritise competitiveness.
The circular economy is identified as one of the keys to making the EU more competitive. The report looks at the barriers to this transition, such the higher cost of secondary raw materials, the difficulty of scaling up and replicating solutions in a fragmented market and diverging national regulatory frameworks which hinder the development of enhanced supply chains and discourage upscaling innovative recycling facilities.
The Critical Raw Materials Act and Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation will enhance conditions for circular business models and the circular transition needs to pick up the pace.
RUNFASTER4EU is a new Horizon Europe Innovation Action which aims to show that it is possible to use unproductive, polluted or otherwise unused land to grow crops as feedstock for biobased products. This approach does not take land away from food or feed production while supporting the EU's bioeconomy.
From a circular economy perspective, maintaining most of a building's structure is preferable to building a new one.
Repurposing offices into housing can expand affordable supply in high-demand areas while supporting inclusion and climate objectives.
This report aims to inform policymaking by exploring examples from various EU regions and identifying regulatory, technical, financial and social aspects that enable successful conversions of offices to affordable housing. It also highlights the multiple benefits of repurposing non-residential buildings into housing and provides insights into essential measures for scaling up such initiatives.
Find out about a new EU-funded project! MARMADE aims to use crustacean residues and seaweed as the raw material to produce sustainable, high-value food and feed ingredients.
The Access Economy Alliance promotes the sharing economy: the concept that you don't need to buy something if you're only going to use it a few times.
It aims to develop the network of sharing stations, self-service lockers where you can go to borrow everyday items, from DIY tools to sports equipment. It is also a forum where access economy practitioners can engage in strategic discussions, meet other organisations in the field, learn from experts and contribute to access economy innovations.
Public authorities, businesses and researchers come together to accelerate Europe’s transition to a circular economy through access-based services.
The Alliance is supported by the EU through the Digital Kiosks project which is piloting 22 new sharing stations across Europe.
The REFRESH project is working on making wind energy more circular by developing more efficient ways to recycle and reuse wind turbine blades, which are made of hard to recycle composites.
See what the project is aiming to achieve and the progress it has made!
Europe’s green and digital transitions are increasing demand for CRMs, just as geopolitical risks and trade tensions are reshaping global supply chains. The EU has been taking steps to secure and diversify supplies by building strategic partnerships with resource-rich countries, which includes recovering CRMs from mine waste and tailings.
The Western Balkans region is a natural partner: they are integrated into EU markets and transport networks and have a legacy of old industrial sites and mine tailings.
This study recommends mapping mining waste, linking local actors more closely to EU instruments and initiatives, and using the EU accession process to advance regulatory and administrative alignment on mining, waste management and water protection with the EU acquis.
This side session will introduce the EU Textiles Ecosystem Platform, a European Commission initiative designed to support stakeholders across the textiles ecosystem value chain. Find out what it is and how it works!
